Thanks in no small part to several brain freezes by the Ole Miss coaching staff, the Rebels suffered their first loss Saturday at LSU.

But like every other one-loss team, Ole Miss isn't done as a playoff team. In fact, I still project the Rebels as one of the four teams in the college football playoff.

Ole Miss still has home games with their two toughest opponents, Auburn and Mississippi State. The Rebels still have to travel to Arkansas, a game they have to take seriously, but if they win out, they will be the SEC West champion...

LSU has two losses, but head-to-head results matter to the committee. How far will Ole Miss drop after the Rebels’ disastrous end? Alabama was all Amari Cooper in a win over Tennessee, but the Tide lost to Ole Miss. Ohio State entered the game at Penn State looking like one of the most improved teams in the country since its Week 2 loss to Virginia Tech, but the Buckeyes needed two overtimes to shake the Nittany Lions. Oregon’s win at Cal was further evidence that the Ducks can be the best team in the Pac-12 -- if the committee can forgive that home loss to Arizona.

And Michigan State looked like nobody’s little brother against Michigan.

How closely was the committee watching this week?

Five sitting athletic directors are on the committee: Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez, Clemson’s Dan Radakovich, Arkansas’ Jeff Long, USC’s Pat Haden and West Virginia’s Oliver Luck. All of them have said they’re spending at least a chunk of their Saturdays watching their own programs. Condoleezza Rice said she attends Stanford’s home games. Mike Gould said he still goes to Air Force games.

For the first half of the season, they have used the weekdays to catch up on game film. Now their Mondays and Tuesdays will be spent voting for their top 25 -- not studying it...

GRAPEVINE, Texas — On a hat rack just outside the Bluebonnet Room, a dozen white ball caps hung Monday afternoon, each emblazoned with the name of a member of the College Football Playoff selection committee. Jeff Long came up with the idea as a visual reminder: Biases must be checked at the door.

"We're leaving those things outside," said Long, Arkansas' athletic director and the committee chairman, "and we're acting within the best interests of college football."

But is what the committee is doing this week — and for the next five weeks? — good for college football?

On Tuesday, after several hours of deliberations over parts of two days, the initial College Football Playoff Top 25 will be unveiled...

Yeah, their ranking will be official. But what does that mean? With the season only two-thirds complete, does it matter at all which teams populate the top of their poll right now?

... The weekly Top 25 is TV programming, plain and simple. And if you doubt that, consider the timing. The old BCS formula was released, beginning in late October, every Sunday night.

ESPN appreciates us suckers treating the first playoff ranking like the O.J. verdict. http://ow.ly/DuIKT

Scarblog:

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As hard as it is to distinguish between teams after they've all played 12 or 13 times, it's even more of a shot in the dark to do it three days before Halloween.

Everyone's body of work is missing an arm and a leg...

It's nice that Louisville squeaked into the first ranking at No. 25, but the only attention Condi Rice and friends need to pay to Bobby Petrino and Mike Dyer will come Thursday night when their Cardinals get to be the good guys against Florida State...

As for the ranking itself, it was our first glimpse into the minds of the 12 committee members, and it was refreshing to see them put a BB in a number of misconceptions. At least for one week.

SEC fans worried that the committee would try to spread the love across the country had to be thrilled to see three teams from the league in the top four in No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 3 Auburn and No. 4 Ole Miss. It was four in the top six with No. 6 Alabama and five in the top 11 with No. 11 Georgia.

AUBURN, Alabama -- Tonight might provide the first de facto elimination game in the College Football Playoff era.

Then again, it might not when No. 3 Auburn and No. 4 Ole Miss face off tonight (6 p.m., ESPN) at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Either way, the importance is not lost on either as Auburn's high-power offense faces the nation's best defense.

The Horned Frogs were very impressive in beating Kansas State on Saturday, but they still fell out of the projected final four. That's because Baylor eviscerated Oklahoma in Norman. Because of that win, Baylor is now the projected favorite in the Big 12. Both teams figure to be favored in the rest of their games, but a tie for the league title would be broken by the head-to-head result. Baylor handed TCU its only loss. The CFP selection committee may not jump Baylor over TCU this week, but at some point, if both teams keep winning, they will...

Oregon looked like a threat to drop from the rankings as well, but it was Utah who dropped the ball instead. The Ducks pulled away late for a comfortable win and clinched the North Division title and a spot in the Pac-12 championship game.

Alabama remarkably survivied at LSU and the Tide is now done with the road portion of their schedule. The SEC West title will go through Tuscaloosa. Mississippi State and Auburn play there before the season is over and either Alabama will win the division title at home or someone will have beat them there to take it from them.

Auburn is no longer a threat to make the playoff though. With a brutal road schedule this season, the last thing the Tigers could afford was a home loss, but that is what happened on Saturday. Texas A&M beat Auburn at Jordan Hare, giving the Tigers their second loss and effectively ending their chances to make the playoffs.

Auburn also fell out of the CFP host bowl projections, replaced by Baylor.

Playoff chances also died for Notre Dame and Michigan State, both of whom lost [royally].

I have been projecting Florida State as the top seed, but the committee sent a message this week that undefeated doesn't mean much by itself. They moved Oregon ahead of the Seminoles last week, and with the schedules each team has left, there is no reason to think that order will change unless Oregon loses. On top of that, the Seminoles' strength of schedule took a hit this week with losses by the two ranked teams they had beaten previously. Clemson lost at Georgia Tech and Notre Dame was upset at home by Northwestern. It's possible that FSU will be without a win over a ranked opponent this week.

If Oregon is going to be ahead of Florida State at the end of the year, then certainly a 12-1, SEC champion Alabama would be as well. In fact, the Tide now projects to the top seed overall.

Baylor, which was off this week, remains in the No. 4 spot. The Bears probably took some small comfort in the fact that they beat Kansas by six touchdowns more than TCU did.

Clearly, both Alabama and Mississippi State have to win out, giving Alabama the SEC championship. Without that, this scenario is dead. Now, there is the off chance that a Georgia SEC title (if UGA wins the East over Missouri) could get two SEC teams in, but that's a trickier situation and one that requires a lot more help for the league, because Georgia has two losses.

So if on Dec. 7 Alabama is sitting there with yet another SEC championship and Mississippi State is 11-1 with an Egg Bowl win over rival Ole Miss, the SEC could be in good shape. Alabama would be a lock, but Mississippi State would be an interesting team for the selection committee to study...